XFreq

Purpose

XFreq provides a GUI to monitor the Processor frequencies (including Turbo Boost), the temperatures, C-States, and to alter the operational features of the Intel Core i7 processor.
XFreq is also programmed for Core 2 and other Intel 64-bits architectures.

Features

XFreq provides functionalities to play with:

• Core Frequencies, Ratios and Turbo Boost
• CPU Cycles, IPS, IPC, CPI
• CPU C-States C0 C1 C3 C6 C7
• Discrete Temperature per thread core
• Processor features [Yes]|[No] and their activation state [ON]|[OFF]
• Read and write MSR registers
• DRAM controller & timings
• Base Clock (from TSC, BIOS, factory value or a user defined memory address)
• State of [de]activated Core by the OS or the BIOS
• The xAPIC topology map
• The Intel Performance counters
• The Linux tasks scheduling monitoring.

The GUI

• The GUI Gadgets can be started as one MDI window or spanned in several Widgets, using the built-in window manager:

• Right mouse button to move the Widgets on screen.

• Left, to scroll Widgets, or push the GUI buttons and run the associated command.

• A commands set allows to drive the Processor features, such as enabling, disabling SpeedStep, Turbo Boost, Thermal Control;
  but also, miscellaneous XFreq functionalities, such as setting the RGB colors, font and layout; save and load from the configuration file.

• The Widgets disposal is specified with the program options. See the help below.

• The tasks scheduled by the kernel among the CPU Cores are shown in real time.

• XFreq's editor.

• Enter an address and a CPU Core number, XFreq will monitor its register bits.

Build & Run

Prerequisites: as root, load the MSR Kernel driver.

• if Linux then enter:

modprobe msr

• if FreeBSD then enter:

kldload cpuctl

1- Download the source code into a working directory

2- Build the programs:

make

3- Run the server, as root:

./XFreq/svr/bin/xfreq-intel

4- ... and the GUI client, as a regular user:

./XFreq/gui/bin/xfreq-gui

5- start the console client with:

./XFreq/cli/bin/xfreq-cli

6- To display the help, enter:

$ xfreq-gui -h
XFreq-Gui usage:
        xfreq-gui [-option argument] .. [-option argument]

where options include:
        -C      Path & file configuration name (String)
                  this option must be first
                  default is '$HOME/.xfreq'
        -D      Run as a MDI Window (Bool) [0/1]
        -U      Bitmap of unmap Widgets (Hex) eq. 0b00111111
                  where each bit set in the argument is a hidden Widget
        -u      Set the cursor shape (Bool) [0/1]
        -F      Font name (String)
                  default font is 'Fixed'
        -x      Enable or disable the X ACL (Char) ['Y'/'N']
        -g      Widgets geometries (String)
                  argument is a series of '#:[cols]x[rows]+[x]+[y], .. ,'
        -b      Background color (Hex) {RGB}
                  argument is coded with primary colors 0xRRGGBB
        -f      Foreground color (Hex) {RGB}
        -l      Fill or not the graphics (Bool) [0/1]
        -z      Show the Core frequency (Bool) [0/1]
        -y      Show the Core Cycles (Bool) [0/1]
        -j      Show the Instructions Per Second (Bool) [0/1]
        -J      Show the Instructions Per Cycle (Bool) [0/1]
        -i      Show the Cycles Per Instructions (Bool) [0/1]
        -r      Show the Core Ratio (Bool) [0/1]
        -p      Show the Core C-State percentage (Bool) [0/1]
        -w      Scroll the Processor brand wallboard (Bool) [0/1]
        -o      Keep the Widgets always on top of the screen (Bool) [0/1]
        -n      Remove the Window Manager decorations (Bool) [0/1]
        -N      Remove the Widgets title name from the WM taskbar (Bool) [0/1]
        -I      Splash screen attributes 0x{H}{NNN} (Hex)
                  where {H} bit:13 hides Splash and {NNN} (usec) defers start-up
        -S      Screenshot path (String)
                  default is '$HOME'
        -v      Print version information
        -h      Print out this message

Exit status:
0       if OK,
1       if problems,
2       if serious trouble.

# xfreq-intel -h
XFreq-Intel usage:
        xfreq-intel [-option argument] .. [-option argument]

where options include:
        -c      Pick up an architecture # (Int)
                  refer to the '-A' option
        -S      Clock source (Int)
                  argument is one of the [0]TSC [1]BIOS [2]SPEC [3]ROM [4]USER
        -M      ROM address of the Base Clock (Hex)
                  argument is the BCLK memory address to read from
        -s      Idle time multiplier (Int)
                  argument is a coefficient multiplied by 50000 usec
        -d      Registers dump enablement (Bool)
        -t      Task scheduling monitoring sorted by 0x{R}0{N} (Hex)
                  where {R} bit:8 is set to reverse sorting
                  and {N} is one '/proc/sched_debug' field# from [0x1] to [0xb]
        -z      Reset the MSR counters (Bool)
        -B      Enable SmBIOS (Bool)
        -A      Print out the built-in architectures
        -v      Print version information
        -h      Print out this message

Exit status:
0       if OK,
1       if problems,
2       if serious trouble.

Algorithms

The algorithms employed are introduced in the [Algorithms Wiki]

Architectures

xfreq-intel -A lists the built-in architectures and their default clock.

     Architecture              Family         CPU        FSB Clock
  #                            _Model        [max]        [ MHz ]

  0  GenuineIntel              00_00            2         100.00
  1  Core/Yonah                06_0E            2         100.00
  2  Core2/Conroe              06_0F            2         266.67
  3  Core2/Kentsfield          06_15            4         266.67
  4  Core2/Conroe/Yonah        06_16            4         266.67
  5  Core2/Yorkfield           06_17            4         266.67
  6  Xeon/Dunnington           06_1D            6         266.67
  7  Atom/Bonnell              06_1C            2         100.00
  8  Atom/Silvermont           06_26            8         100.00
  9  Atom/Lincroft             06_27            1         100.00
 10  Atom/Clovertrail          06_35            2         100.00
 11  Atom/Saltwell             06_36            2         100.00
 12  Silvermont                06_37            4          83.30
 13  Silvermont                06_4D            4          83.30
 14  Atom/Airmont              06_4C            4         100.00
 15  Atom/Goldmont             06_5C            4         100.00
 16  Atom/Sofia                06_5D            4         100.00
 17  Atom/Merrifield           06_4A            2         100.00
 18  Atom/Moorefield           06_5A            4         100.00
 19  Nehalem/Bloomfield        06_1A            4         133.33
 20  Nehalem/Lynnfield         06_1E            4         133.33
 21  Nehalem/Mobile            06_1F            2         133.33
 22  Nehalem/eXtreme.EP        06_2E            8         133.33
 23  Westmere                  06_25            2         133.33
 24  Westmere/EP               06_2C            6         133.33
 25  Westmere/eXtreme          06_2F           10         133.33
 26  SandyBridge               06_2A            4         100.00
 27  SandyBridge/eXtreme.EP    06_2D            6         100.00
 28  IvyBridge                 06_3A            4         100.00
 29  IvyBridge/EP              06_3E            6         100.00
 30  Haswell/Desktop           06_3C            4         100.00
 31  Haswell/Mobile            06_3F            4         100.00
 32  Haswell/Ultra Low TDP     06_45            2         100.00
 33  Haswell/Ultra Low eXtreme 06_46            2         100.00
 34  Broadwell/Mobile          06_3D            2         100.00
 35  Broadwell/EP              06_56           22         100.00
 36  Broadwell/H               06_47            4         100.00
 37  Broadwell/EX              06_4F           24         100.00
 38  Skylake/UY                06_4E            2         100.00
 39  Skylake/S                 06_5E            4         100.00
 40  Skylake/E                 06_55            4         100.00

Tips: you can force an architecture with the -c option.

Notes

• XFreq is programmed in C and inline ASM, using the Code::Blocks IDE and the complete X11 developer packages and this [Workstation]
• The very last development snapshot can be cloned from the git repository
• Based on the Xlib and the GNU libc, XFreq runs with any desktop environment.
• I will be thankful for your testing results, including your processor specs and the facing XFreq data.

Development

XFreq is a Clients-Server model based software.

API

A shared memory interface [SHM] to exchange data with the server.

Server

A daemon program which monitors the hardware and fills the SHM with the collected data.

The server which requires the superuser privileges of root, receives and processes Client commands.

Clients

Gui and text programs which connect to the server through the SHM and display the hardware activity.

Clients do not require the root permissions.

Screenshots

• Intel Processors Server

• Console Client

• GUI Client

v2.1

The files repository is the following:

./Makefile

./api/Makefile
./api/xfreq-api.h
./api/xfreq-api.c
./api/xfreq-smbios.h
./api/xfreq-smbios.c
./api/xfreq-types.h

./cli/Makefile
./cli/XFreq-Cli.cbp
./cli/XFreq-Cli-FreeBSD.cbp
./cli/xfreq-cli.c
./cli/xfreq-cli.h

./gui/Makefile
./gui/XFreq-Gui.cbp
./gui/XFreq-Gui-FreeBSD.cbp
./gui/xfreq-gui.c
./gui/xfreq-gui.h

./svr/Makefile
./svr/XFreq-Intel.cbp
./svr/XFreq-Intel-FreeBSD.cbp
./svr/xfreq-intel.c
./svr/xfreq-intel.h

Build

The v2.1 is delivered with Code::Blocks project files.

An Arch Linux PKGBUILD is available in the aur repository.

Package is systemd compliant.

Run

Processes must be run in the following order ...

• as root

# xfreq-intel

• as a user

$ xfreq-gui

... and in the reverse order to shutdown.

News

• Added a [Ctrl]+[s] hotkey to screen shot the focused widget.
• Improved the fonts and colors management, and the integrated help.
• New architectures implemented: Skylake, Broadwell
• Web UI alpha release preview. [Canceled]
• 
• Bit set calculator.
• Added Performance Monitor Features.
• New commands to enable, disable C3 and C1 auto demotion.
• C7 state is implemented.
• 
• 3 performance ratios:
• IPS (Instructions Per Second)
• IPC (Instructions Per Cycle),
• CPI (Cycles Per Instruction),
• C1 state is now available .
• 3 new commands to "safely" enable, disable:
• EIST ( SpeedStep )
• C1E ( Extended Halt )
• TCC ( Thermal Control )
• 5 new commands:
• to enable, disable, the Intel Turbo Boost.
• to read, write, and dump msr registers from any Core.
• Integrated SmBIOS.
• 
• Ported to FreeBSD.
• Up to 64 simultaneous clients.
• 

Regards

CyrIng

Paris ;-)